The Problem
In the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, companies have further developed financial, contractual and procedural controls to reduce their exposure to business risk. 

For complex projects such as drilling a well however, these controls can increase the difficulty in tracking costs due to the risk and frequent change in operations:

• Financial systems report committed and invoiced costs - overruns are recognised late
• When invoices arrive they exceed the Purchase Order, increasing workload
• Often the majority of rental Purchase Orders require time consuming amendment
• Checking invoices without accurate information to hand is time consuming and inefficient

Typically these problems are countered by cost tracking carried out in spreadsheets. In some cases the company asks vendors to provide details of costs with no verification.

There are a number of issues which limit the effectiveness of this approach:

• Tracking costs in spreadsheets is a difficult, time consuming task
• Spreadsheets are prone to errors and are difficult to share with other stakeholders
• Companies end up tracking only high cost items and high-spend vendors
• Cost overruns are recognised late and must be explained to stakeholders

If while drilling a well you have a 'train wreck' then you need to be able to provide partners with accurate, up-to-date costs now - not in 3 months when the invoice comes in.

The Solution
In the current climate of extremely high value wells CTX is capable of tracking all daily costs on a well to within 1 or 2%, without any increase in staff.

CTX streamlines the ordering process. Costs are automatically tracked when equipment is mobilised and the system provides easy and accurate invoice reconciliation. 

CTX provides stakeholders with reconciliation of Budget, Committed, Actual and Invoiced costs on a daily basis, improving management of cashflow and ultimately the relationship with partners. Continued usage creates a database of vital cost information for future projects.

CTX In Action
Using CTX a single Materials Controller in an integrated services company raises all requisitions for wells, accurately tracks all of the costs to any given day in the well and provides technical review and correct allocation of every single invoice. 

Call Well Data Technologies if your projects need:

• Accurate day-to-day costs in real time
• Reconciliation of Budget / Committed / Actual / Invoiced costs throughout the project
• Equipment and personnel on-hire today
• Invoice reconciliation - catch errors / know outstanding amount on PO
• Ability to quickly order goods and services in a controlled fashion